the inner voice

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Two great bards from two
different time periods, language and civilisations, left an impression on the
culture of the times and for years to come. Even today, the world continues to
be in awe and admiration of them. Both of them enriched the language by their
writings, so much so that the language looks incomplete without them. This post
is to celebrate the greatness of these two literary masters.

Taj Mahal is not the only marvel
Agra has produced. But Alas! the city has been very unkind to its other Gems,
foremost amongst them being Mirza Ghalib. Dec 27, happened to be his birthday. 2014 also happened to be 450
years of Shakespeare. Fortunately he didn’t meet the same fate. History and
times have been more kind to him.

Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan, known
to the world as Ghalib, a non-de-plume he adopted, was born in Agra on Dec 27,
1797. With his marriage at the age of 13, he moved to Delhi. That was a
defining moment for him. His initial years were very comfortable and the later
was the opposite, largely in penury and on pension. He showed his poetic
brilliance while he was very young. Large part of his work in Urdu was done by
the time he was 19 years, within 6 years of his arrival to Delhi. He later
dabbled in Persian and 30 years later, returned back to writing in Urdu, when
he was a courtier. He produced pieces, both prose and poetry, which were as
brilliant as his younger years. It was due to him that this language of
commoners attained poetic status.

The site below has more details
around his life and captures the perspectives of the times very well.

The toughest part for any lover
of Urdu poetry is to figure which are some of best couplets. It’s impossible to
pick up a few. I have picked up a few, which I loved. There are many more,
which I equally love, but want to restrict for this article. I don’t claim that
these are the best nor do I have the competence to say so. Just enjoy them. If
you love it, go for more on the net or buy a book.

The maestro had his own ‘signature’ style…andaaz-e-bayan
aur..a class apart..

That he challenged the widely held concepts, to the disliking of
the fundamentalists, tells me that he didn’t hold an orthodox view of religion.

हमको मालूम है जन्नत की हक़ीक़त लेकिन

दिल को ख़ुश रखने के लिए ग़ालिब ये ख्याल अच्छा है ..

Here is another one which drives the same point I made before.
It becomes clear to me that he was a true liberal and disliked practioners of
orthodoxy, hypocrisy and narrow-minded approach…the same very preacher was seen coming out of the pub…

कहाँ मैख़ाने का दरवाज़ा ग़ालिब और कहाँ वाइज़ ,

पर इतना जानते हैं के कल, वो जाता था और हम निकले ..

This one is my favourite…

हज़ारों ख्वाईशें ऐसी, के हर ख्वाइश पे दम निकले

बहुत निकले मेरे अरमां , लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले ..

Have you seen a better romance with pain ...isn’t it true in
real life…when pain goes beyond tolerance...that very pain turns into the balm …

इशरत-ए-कतरा है दरिया में फ़ना हो जाना ,

दर्द का हद से गुज़रना है दवा हो जाना ..

The final one, I present to you, sums up the
philosophy of life…mantra for leading a happy life...

His compositions represented elegance
and deep philosophy. He challenged the conventional.

His birthday comes and passes by as
a non-event, even in his birth-town, Agra. Thrice I have been to Agra and the
trip has by and large included the Taj, Akbar’s tomb, Red Fort and the little
far off Fatehpur-Sikri. Never does the hotel or nor do the guides suggest about
Ghalib’s birthplace. It has been left to the citizens who enjoy his poetry to
celebrate the life of this poetic genius. Well, looked differently, irrespective
of how we treat our masters, his writings make him immortal.

Let’s move to the dramatist. William
Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and 2014 marked 450th anniversary of his
birth. It’s impossible to study English language and literature without
studying Shakespeare. The Bard of Avon captured complete range of human
emotions through his histories, comedies and tragedies [and we can add Romance
to it].

The Balcony Scene by a known painter

How can one not feel the churn
within oneself after going through, the dark, The Tragedy of Macbeth or the depressing tone and tragic
consequences of The Tragedy ofKing Lear. The tragic outcomes are life
lessons of following an evil path or listening to flattery. Some of the
tragedies are deeply ingrained and now part of popular folklore or are sort of
the standard if there is a discussion on that topic. If you talk of tragic love
stories, the discussion is incomplete without mention of the young,
star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet.
His writings had powerful visualisation. You can almost imagine the whole plot
unfolding around you and you become a part of it, a character, as if you were
around. The moment I think about Romeo
and Juliet, I can see Romeo up in the balcony kissing the Juliet. By far,
in my view, this must be the most popular of all his writings. Hundreds of
thousands of adaptions [many of them modified to happy endings…] are doing the
rounds all over the world.

As a kid, I felt very sad when a
pound of flesh was asked by Shylock in The
Merchant of Venice [ it also sent a social message against predatory
lending practices, which by the way, todays Investment Bankers are accused
of.. and even today Newspapers pick this up as headlines to make a point]. or felt overjoyed when Portia disguised as a clerk of the lawyer, made
ingenious argument, that only a pound of flesh and not even a hair’s weight
extra should be extracted and that not a drop of blood should flow!

Another very interesting aspect
of Shakespeare was the commanding presence of the ghosts and jesters in his plays. In fact
the supernaturals - ghosts, witches, prophetic apparitions etc. have been integral to many of his plots, having acted as catalyst for many of the
actions. They have helped create the atmosphere and tension in the story,
augmenting and expanding many of the scenes, characters etc. I cannot imagine The Tempest and The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark without them. And that would be true for jesters as
well. How can As You Like it, Twelfth Night, or What you Will and The Tragedy of King Lear be complete
without Touchstone, Feste and the Fool ? They were not just fooling around but
very integral to the plays. The jester was only a mask and behind that was an
intelligent person, who made his point with wit.

City of Verona

Locations in Shakespeare's plays played equally important part. While being an English writer, a third of his plays have been set in
Italy [ Venice, Rome and Verona ] and within that three of them are set in
Verona - The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet. The romantic air, the
beauty of the place, the culture appears to awed Shakespeare.
Or may be Britain wasn't that liberal, the machinations were too much for Britain to digest. These locations helped him layout the scenes making it inseparable with the storyline. Some of these will be on my itinerary when I get visit Italy.

In the Indian context, he is more
known for his tragedies, but he has churned out comedies with equal mastery. As you like it, his pastoral comedy has
philosophical tones. Live your life as you like it. Find your own meanings to
situations [love]. His works are probably the most quoted ones, one of famous ones
comes from this comedy ‘All the worlds a
stage and all men and women are merely players.’ Therefore don’t get
serious beyond a point. Have fun, your way.

The emotions are as relevant
today as they were in his times. It’s this relevance that his works have seen
adaptation to film, television, opera, novels, variants, poems, comics etc. and
draws full audience even today, though they have been continuously played for
centuries. There is no one more celebrated and adored than him.

Closer home, I am totally in love
with Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaption of Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet as Maqbool,
Omkara and Haider each of the tragedy-trilogy, a masterpiece. The depth of
Shakespearean characters have always enamoured leading actors who consider it
an honour to play lead roles.

Well as is the case with Mirza
Ghalib, there are many more masterpieces which I may not have quoted. It’s
impossible with these two bards.

I have learnt a lot and
enjoyed them enormously. Thank you for enriching our lives with your greatness.

Monday, December 22, 2014

A recent event prompted me to ask this question. What is the
nature of relationship between the firm and the employee - is it of Performance
or is it of Loyalty?

Well I asked this question to my peer groups within the
industry. The answers I got were equally polarised with a bias towards loyalty
[well the sample size consisted of senior folks doing fairly well]. I wonder
what it would be if I extended this question to the entire spectrum of
employees.

Will the answer be different at two different time periods,
junior vs senior, retained vs fired or at-risk, geography to geography,
expanding or contracting economy etc. etc.? Thinking through this prompted
another question, Is Loyalty a fallacy? Or the earlier clamour when
professionals saw large scale retrenchment in US, that ’Loyalty is dead’?

Let me put forth some scenarios …

1.You have been in the firm for years. Toiled
hard. Sweat. Have done fairly well. You have had 2 bad years in a row. You are
asked to move on.

2.You have been doing extremely well. The firm
promotes you. You quit the firm for a better opportunity.

3.You are doing extremely well. Have been with the
firm for years. Toiled hard. Sweat. Turn of events-Economy contracts. Assets
have to be sold. Firm decides to exit your business line. You are at-risk and
eventually asked to move-on.

4.You have been with the firm for years. You are
doing extremely well. Firm decides to exit your business line. You are taken
care of and placed in a different department. You do well. You have now
received a good offer and you move on.

5.You have been in the firm for years. Your
performance isn’t up-to the mark. Firm continues to support you. Other high
performers emulate you. Firm goes down in performance. Profit goes down and so
do the Taxes paid. Society is hurt.

6.You have been a star performer. You keep moving
up. You find a very good offer where you can create more value. You move on and
actually create more value in another firm. Others emulate you in that firm.
The other firm does well. Pays higher taxes. Society is benefited.

7.You get hired from campus. Firm spends couple of
years in training you. You have been consuming value so far. You are now in a
position to pay back and deliver value. You receive a good offer from
competitor and you move on.

What if in above scenarios the person who moved on had
opportunity to move-on on earlier occasions but had stayed back [may be at significantly
lower salary] ? I can create many more from actual life examples. By the way, all
the above are inspired from real life.

Some of them will resonate with you. May be the you
mentioned is YOU? or your friend ? and the firm could be one known to you, your
current firm or your earlier firm?

Does expanding economy and contracting economy produce
different results ? In growth, tolerance is high, performance coupled with
loyalty may fetch you senior roles. In recessionary trends tough choices have
to be made to save the firm and manager most likely will vote for consistent
performers?

Has globalisation had an impact? Has employee mobility had
an impact?

Or is it that both are aware that, 1. You are not expected to
be here lifelong; 2. Firm may/may not (be able to) keep you lifelong[ job
security is dead], but both are maximising their positions?

Legally both of them signed a contract with option to resign
or terminate with notice period?

Has the definition of long-term changed? Should one have
long-term awards?

Is Loyalty and Tenure being seen interchangeably by the
Employee? Who is more loyal – tenured under performer or recent top performer?

Loyal but discouraged, new but motivated? Who is more preferred?
[Research suggests that happy and motivated employees create more value]

Interestingly when I spoke to Headhunters and leading B
school professors, they were quite unanimous in their answer, the relationship
is of ‘Performance’. If it’s coupled with Loyalty, its great but fundamentally
its of Performance.

The answer is still a difficult one. So I have to put you in
a spot? Here is the voting machine with only two buttons – Press 1 for Performance
and Press 2 for Loyalty [ there is no don’t-want-to vote button ]. Initially I too had pressed the button no 2. But having stayed with this problem for some time and debated with myself, I finally pressed 1.Which one will you press for ?

Friday, August 09, 2013

The last couple of months have been
quite tempestuous for me. One can always feel the storm and
turbulence it brings along within, when it’s anything to do with
fulfilment. If you are not happy, whatever be the reason, it’s
bound to convulse your mind. It keeps going back to that issue. No
matter what starting point of your argument is, subsequent arguments
are framed to your line of thinking and you reach the same conclusion
yet again but with increasing intensity.

My situation took me to extremes; there
was hardly a moment when I was thinking of something else. It almost
paralyses you, so much so that I took a complete break from the
situation. I then revisited the challenge. The question haunts and
pounds heavily. If it’s not that intense it’s not a big real
problem. One also needs to stay comfortable in that uncomfortable
zone. That zone could run into days and weeks. The violent shake and
prolonged stay in that zone helps one carry out some real
introspection. You then cannot afford to stay at the surface. You are
forced to peel off layers and the process reveals deep insights. And
those insights are priceless. Traditionally held notions are tossed
and ones appeared to be on sitting on periphery make their value felt
and emerge stronger. Overall you are able to differentiate between
variables basis what is truly important and of value.

In this ‘mansik manthan
(mental churn)’, I learnt a lot. I came out awakened and alive to
myself, my loved ones and my friends. It reminds me of the ‘Samudra
Manthan (churning the ocean)’ talked about in Puranas. I
always saw that as pass-time folklore. I am now able to better
appreciate what our forefathers were trying to convey. The jewels
which manthan released were nothing but insights. The ultimate
output couldn’t have been anything else but Halahala (most
lethal poison), which is akin to succumbing to the thoughts and
sliding into depression or Amrita (nectar of immortality),
which I think is ‘absolute clarity’ or ‘truth’. ‘Truth’
and only ‘truth’ has the power to stay immortal.

The biggest of all insights was value
of my relationships. Relationships I took it as granted and at times
ignored - what it means and how important it is in my scheme of life.
The experience helped me re-value them. I was able to see through
clearly what it meant. It made giving up big money and title a simple
affair.

It was also about the confidence on
oneself, the power and strength to stick to the truth, irrespective
how you get perceived at that point, the conviction in the
immortality of the Truth and act on it. In my case it was about
entering into a new relationship. I could not have started on false
foundation and still believe that it would take me far. Staying with
truth brought me inner peace, which is immeasurably more important
than anything else. Staying with truth helped me stay comfortable
with trade-offs and not repent, then or ever. Stay with Truth helps
you hear ‘the inner voice’.

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Everyone
I talk to tells me that 2012 was not a good year. The never-ending scams, persistent high inflation, slowdown in
industrial activity, lay-offs, impact of global events and towards the end, the
savage rape of a young girl. The gravity is not lost on me, but I still hold a
different view, I believe it’s was watershed year for India. It may have not
have been a great year in economic sense, but probably the best in social sense.
This year could be termed as the year of awakening of the average Indian
powered by energy of the young. Citizens gave a titanic jolt to the ineffective
political class by making its roar felt. I am certain that this year will serve
as a tipping point in the modern history of this nation.

India
has undergone colossal change over decades and obviously so have Indians. With
urbanisation of India, the struggle and aspiration of an average Indian changed
as well. A new social-strata called urban (middle) class was born. They transcended
the primal caste boundaries and were united by their routine drudgery of
day-to-day struggle. It was slogging hard to make ends meet and generate resources
to secure its future in this cut-throat world. So much so that it would
typically show up on work in the very next-hour of high-intensity disturbances
because it couldn’t afford to and was euphemistically called as resilient class.
A good majority also got exposed to the western world and saw themselves no-less
smart and intelligent and therefore worked even harder to achieve satiate its
craving.

This
class stayed mute for reasons above but was seen as stoic. It never really engaged
with Indian political tamasha, something which Indian politicians of each shade
understood very well and exploited this silent majority. The worst part is that
they kept increasing the degree of insult over years and absence of any reprisal,
gave them confidence to try out increasingly bizzare stuff including complete
disregard. The bureaucracy-police which should have held its ground, led itself
degenerate into a master-servant relationship and went the same way. In-fact
they scratched each-others back and this nexus prospered, forcing young India
to take charge of their destiny.

The
past decades also witnessed change in demographic profile. We now have a large
educated young pool - energetic and restless. Two-third of India is now less
than 35 years of age. They are willing to slog and earn their way to decent
life and expect leaders to do the same and not live in the world of
entitlements. While economic forces saw this as an opportunity – the sales
pitches identified it ‘demographic dividend’, the impact it would have in social
context was underestimated.

The
problem was despite having similar thoughts, challenges and asks nothing connected
them. It’s no surprise that internet-mobile devices provided the platform for the
like-minded group to connect and share. The facebook-twitter networks started
as a casual social network eventually metamorphosed into a potent force, a groundswell,
a tsunami which no one could afford to ignore. This connect went beyond metros
to all cities and villages. It is a bit surprising that while this played out
loud-and-clear in the context of Arab spring, why the political elite failed to
see this coming in our own country. It helped this new social class to connect
and react to situation on real-time basis. For once ‘going-viral’ had a
positive connotation. I have never been a bigger fan of this network.

And
whenever this viral phenomenon hit through course of this year, it left the
incompetent political-bureaucracy-police fumbling. This year, exposed the
extent of ineptness. A sample bungled response to recent viral outpouring - lathi-charge
and water-canons on students, Sec 144, shut-down metro, call young Indians as
Maoists, urban women called as dented-and-painted, never-to-be-heard Maun-mohan
Singh living up to his reputation and woken up from slumber after 7 days only
to say ‘theek-hai’, top-rung women political leadership Sushma-Mamta-Sheila-Jaya-Maya
making customary statements and finally so called young-connected political
leadership of Gandhi-Pilot-Scindia-Deora not to be seen anywhere. Their why-should-I-go-to-you-you-come-to-me
attitude smacks of entitlement mentality which this demographic-profile disapproves
of.

Whether it
was the Anna Hazare led protest against the corrupt-disgusting political class
or impromptu getting together to express solidarity with the Delhi girl and
demonstrating against sycophant-incapable bureaucracy-police, seeking justice, these
events mark coming of age of this new social class. It’s no more willing to
tolerate the taken-for-granted attitude and willing to hit the streets, flexing
its muscles, demanding its rights and exercising its franchise.

The rot is
deep enough, hence the diseased body will need multiple such protest-therapy sessions. 2012 saw
just one dose of medicine. The youth led social-surgery stands a good chance to
cure the patient. Yes - it will not be easy, Yes - it will painful, Yes – it will
be long-drawn but YES – it will tip the nation to its greatness and glory. Yes, we
are at a tipping point and part of that historical transformation!

The ‘Arab
Spring’ could very well give way to ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘Tahrir Square’ to the ‘India
Gate’.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

While all languages are great, Urdu, I feel enjoys a special place amongst them. Its elegantness flatters you and its expressiveness romanticises you. I am love with many words within that language, and wish to explore one of them in this blog post.

When you talk about colors (रंग), ‘Rangrej ( रंगरेज )’ or related expressions like ‘RangRajwa ( रंगरजवा )’ crop up in mind. Though its literal meaning is ‘the dyer’….but is often poetically substituted for GOD, Master ( Guru ) or as the Lover,….जो उन्हे उनके रंग में रंग दे …..someone who can color them in their colors.

The Sufi Songs or the ones with Sufiana soul or bent have most expressively used this word. In most usages you will find them easily substitutable, beyond the obvious Dyer, GOD, Master and Lover. When you think of it as the GOD or the Master ( Guru ), then it’s the color of spirituality and when it’s the Master (Lover), then it’s the color of love…both the colors permeate through the mind, body, heart and soul …in a very sublime way… and leaves you intoxicated…in that state, that’s the only color left….and leaves both in unison…it’s the ultimate unison…which uplifts you and transports you to a different world…a world which is much more expansive than the one we live in…a state of forgetfulness, beyond the worldly pleasures…a world in complete trance…a world which is boundless… infinite…this intoxication has to be experienced..

I have picked up a total of three compositions, two from earlier writings and one recent Bollywood song, for detailed treatment, which gracefully captures the expressive essence of the word. I have also added the English translations. Though the translation always doesn’t do justice to original writings …nevertheless…

The first is from the writings of Kabir Sahib (Satguru), the 13th century, mystic and saint. I have translated the same…the translation is not literal…but what lines try to convey …

साहिब* हैं रंगरेज , चुनरी मोरी रंग डारी

स्याही रंग छुड़ाए के रे , दियो मजीठा रंग

धोये से छूटे नहीं रे , दिन दिन होत सूरंग

भाव के कुंडी , नेह के जल में , प्रेम रंग दई बोरी

दुःख देह मैल लुटाये दे रे , खूब रंगी झकझोर

साहिब ने चुनरी रंगी रे , प्रीतम चतुर सुजान

सब कुछ उन पर वार दूं रे , तन मन धन और प्राण

कहत कबीर रंगरेज पियारे , मुझ पर हुए दयाल

सीतल चुनरी ओढ़ी के रे , भयी हों मगन निहाल

*Sahib is generally used for ‘Guru’, as I explained earlier it can also be used for ultimate Lover…

Master has colored my mind, body, heart and soul. He has removed the existing stains and applied fresh color of love

The beauty of this freshly applied color is that…rather than fading ..with every wash ( each day ) it gets brighter and more lustrous…

In the bucket of feelings, which is filled with water of affection...he has mixed the color of love… and when I bathe with this water…it has cleansed the dirt of sorrowness…and now I look even more splendid…

Its my Master who has colored me, he is great..I surrender my everthything onto him…even my ‘self’…my own being

Kabir says, the Master, the benevolent, has blessed me. With his cover of kindness…I feel myself at peace...settled…pure …fullfilled…in a blissful state…

The above composition has been delightfully rendered by Smt Shobha Mudgal Ji and is produced below.

The second one I have chosen is Amir Khusrau’s composition. Khusrau, the 13th century Indian poet, musician, scholar and mystic, has written this for his Master (Guru), Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.. As earlier, I make no claims of literal translation…but have kept it crisp…as these compositions have so much ‘bhaav’ in it.

छाप तिलक सब छीनी रे, मोसे नैना मिलाइके

प्रेम भटटी का मढ़वा पीलाईके, मतवाली कर लीनी रे , मोसे नैना मिलाइके

गोरी गोरी बहियां, हरी हरी चूड़ियां

बहिंयां पकड़ धर लीनी रे, मोसे नैना मिलाईके

बल बल जाऊं मै तोरे रंगरजवा

अपनी सी कर लीनी रे, मोसे नैना मिलाईके

खुसरो निजाम के बल बल जईए

मोहे सुहागन कर लीनी रे, मोसे नैना नैना मिलाईके

छाप तिलक सब छीनी रे, मोसे नैना मिलाईके

A mere glance by you has taken away my ‘self’ ( my looks and my identity )..I am now intoxicated by drinking the mixture produced by furnace of love and by your mere glance…

Your mere glance has clenched my fair delicate wrists ( which has Green bangles...Green bangles are worn in Saawan ( Spring Season), and is symbolic of season of love..

I totally bow unto you (walk on my knees.) ...my Master….I have merged into you ( got dyed by the dyer )…by your mere glance…I have become your bride ( my soul has become yours spiritually ) by your mere glance..

The no of people who have lent their voice to this composition is astounding. That speaks volumes about it. The one below by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is my favorite.

The most impressive recent usage has been the number 'Rangrej Mere…’ in the film Tanu Weds Manu. The lyrics are by Rajshekhar and the song is composed by Krsna. There are two versions – one sung by Krsna and other by Wadali Brothers. While both are good, the latter is pure and magical.

The song takes the word ‘Rangrej’ to profound heights. It explores the words in all possible forms, shades and hues.

I must confess that though I have been thinking about this blog for some time, but it was this song that pushed me to work on this blog. The translation I am quoting below is also done by Krsna.

As I conclude, I also came across some very recent composition in Peepli Live, where the word has been given a very different treatment. Here it talks about our nation as Rangrej and how it has colored us with its uniqueness. On our 66th Independence Day, this number is a very grim reminder that we have a long way to reach 'Purna Swaraj'.

देस मेरा रंगरेज ये बाबू , घाट घाट यहाँ घटता जादू ..

Thinking of colors also takes to me patriotic numbers - Rang De Basanti Chola, which I have not dealt with in this post.I am so enamored by this word, that I just can’t stop thinking about and admiring it.

Friday, December 30, 2011

We don’t remember days, we remember moments – Pavese, Cesare ( 1908-1950), Italian, Poet, Critic, Novelist and Translator2011 had many such moments. Beginning of the year, I commented upon start of the new decade bringing new promises along with it. Even though, in general, 2011 was a very tough year, especially people connected with the finance world, I still hold on to my earlier comment.

Each year when we look back and evaluate, we end up looking at our failures, at things which turned out contrary to our expectations or liking. And what that inferno of thought does, is further depresses us, building a kind of negative spiral, which engulfs and ends up strangulating us. Unless one makes a conscious attempt to stay positive, it’s very difficult to remain so given the surrounding ecosystem is so much volatile and uncertain. The coming decade will be a decade with ‘new normal’ - the earlier extreme / tail positions becoming the norm of the day.

So let me sit back, relax and look at the moments which buoyed me up, experiences which brought smile and satisfaction - those beautiful moments. The beauty is that when you start thinking you will suddenly discover many. That’s true with me as well. Starting with elevation at the beginning of the year, opportunity to learn a new line of business ( also helped me forge new relationships and build networks across the globe), Dad’s graceful retirement (July 2011 after 25 years of glittering service with Indian Diamond Institute taking both the industry and IDI to newer heights), a family vacation to US (something I had been dreaming for years), bought a house and more importantly staying in it, Aadi obtained his golf handicap, Nav improved her tennis skills, Anu’s untiring dedication to make it happen for kids – to count a few ! I urge each of you to do the same.

At a national level, countrymen got together to chop off the ugly head of corruption. Whether the movement was successful or not, it did bring out the issue of corruption in the forefront. It did give the confidence that masses which have stayed agnostic so far to the pressing issues can come together for a worthy cause. I personally do not subscribe to certain proposals of Team Anna or believe that a bill can cure all the ills, but to me the whole run-up was a beautiful moment which further strengthened our democratic set up.

Internationally while US and Europe tripped, Arab spring brought out the thirst for democracy.

2012 – the world is not going to end, as Mayans predict. That prediction is only good for the moviemakers. For the rest, it will bring new possibilities. The context is changing so fast, that we need to continually retool ourselves at a faster pace and shorter intervals. And if we keep doing that, we will be in a position of advantage to exploit the opportunities it will throw. Staying 'agile' and 'collaborating' will be the key to staying successful and happy.

One will need to learn to enjoy not only the 'destination' but also the 'journey'. The journey will be full of those ‘moments’.

We all have our time machines. Some take us back and they are called memories. Some take us forward, they are called dreams – Jeremy Iron, British Actor
Let’s take our time machine forward ( or may be fast -forward ) and dream. And work towards translating those dreams. Welcome 2012 !